Latest USA Headlines
All the headlines from our USA Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Audit Faults U.S. Monitoring of Medical Device Recalls
Jun 30 2011 // Congressional auditors have faulted U.S. health regulators for failing to track unsafe medical devices after they are recalled, opening the door to further risks to patients. The Government Accountability Office (GAO)...
Liberty Mutual Helps 10 Communities Fund Fourth of July Events
Jun 30 2011 // Liberty Mutual Insurance has announced 10 winners of its Bring Back the 4th contest, which – from May 4 to June 14, 2011 – encouraged U.S. cities and towns to compete for ten $10,000 grants to help fund local Fourth of...
Federal Report: Coal Dust, Deception in Fatal West Virginia Mine Blast
Jun 30 2011 // The blast that killed 29 men in a West Virginia coal mine last year was probably caused by coal dust ignition, compounded by safety failings, intimidation and deception by the mine’s owner, the U.S. mine regulator...
Eqecat Set to Release 3 Revised Catastrophe Models
Jun 29 2011 // Catastrophe risk modeler Eqecat has scheduled July 15 as the date to release three significant revisions to its Worldcatenterprise 3.16 platform. The updates cover Eqecat’s North Atlantic hurricane model, its Canada...
Appeals Court Sides With BP in Securities Fraud Lawsuit
Jun 29 2011 // A U.S. appeals court sided with BP Plc in a securities fraud lawsuit arising from a 2006 Alaska oil spill, but the case isn’t over. BP discovered two oil spills in Prudhoe Bay, Alaska, in 2006, and a corporate...
Federal Appeals Court Upholds Individual Health Insurance Mandate
Jun 29 2011 // A U.S. appeals court on Wednesday upheld President Barack Obama’s landmark healthcare law that requires Americans to buy insurance as constitutional, an early victory for the White House. The U.S. Court of Appeals...
Jury Weighs First U.S. Foreign Bribery Sting Case
Jun 29 2011 // Jurors have seen grenade launchers, M4 rifles and secretly recorded videos of military suppliers working on a deal to funnel money to an official of an African nation they wanted to buy their weapons. Now, after a six-week...
Season’s First Atlantic Storm Powers Toward Mexico
Jun 29 2011 // Arlene, the first tropical storm of the North Atlantic hurricane season, churned through the southwestern Gulf of Mexico Tuesday but looked set to spare Mexico’s oilfields from a direct hit. The storm had maximum...
US, India Pledge Market Access Cooperation; Could Ease Insurance Barriers
Jun 28 2011 // Finance chiefs from the United States and India pledged on Tuesday to continue efforts to open up India’s financial, retail, manufacturing and infrastructure sectors to competition but offered no specific measures to...
Report Says South China Sea Disputes Could Lead to Asian War
Jun 28 2011 // Risks are growing that incidents at sea involving China could lead to war in Asia, potentially drawing in the United States and other powers, an Australian think tank warned on Tuesday. The Lowy Institute said in a report...
U.S. Court Rejects $270M Tobacco Lawsuit Appeal
Jun 27 2011 // The U.S. Supreme Court rejected an appeal by the major tobacco companies of a $270 million award for a Louisiana smoking cessation program. Altria Group Inc’s Philip Morris USA Inc, a Reynolds American Inc unit, a...
Imprisoned Trial Attorney Scruggs Wants Corruption Conviction Tossed
Jun 27 2011 // Imprisoned former attorney Richard “Dickie” Scruggs asked a federal court last week to throw out his conviction in the judicial corruption case involving former Hinds County Circuit Judge Bobby...
Wal-Mart Plaintiffs Seek More Time to Pursue Cases
Jun 27 2011 // Attorneys representing women who unsuccessfully sued Wal-Mart Stores Inc. for gender discrimination filed a motion Friday asking a U.S. District Court to freeze the statute of limitations for their complaints against the...
House Approves Patent Reform Bill Similar to Senate’s
Jun 24 2011 // Patent legislation that aims to clear a years-long backlog of applications and allows the patent office set its own fees was approved by the U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday. Supporters say the bill will help the...
Can U.S. Make Phoning While Driving as Taboo as Drunk Driving?
Jun 24 2011 // The nation risks a surge in deadly accidents unless it makes distracted driving — talking, texting and surfing the Internet while operating cars, boats and trains — as taboo as drunken driving, members of the National...
Citi Skimped on ID Theft Protection for Data Breach Victims: Reuters
Jun 24 2011 // After a massive data breach last month, Citigroup did not offer its hacked clients the same degree of identity-theft protection that many other companies provide, drawing criticism from privacy advocates. Citigroup, which...
Report: SoCal Quake Would Rattle Economy
Jun 24 2011 // A new study says a big Southern California earthquake would rattle the region’s economy as well as its buildings. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics said a magnitude-7.8 quake in the southern segment of the San...
Ratings Recap: Stonebridge, RLI Group, Am. Agricultural, ARIC
Jun 23 2011 // A.M. Best Co. has affirmed the financial strength rating of ‘A-‘ (Excellent) and issuer credit rating of “a-” of Stonebridge Casualty Insurance Company, the Columbus Ohio-based property/casualty...
Casualty Actuaries Should Consider Foreign Customs, Economics, Politics
Jun 23 2011 // A bulletin from the Insurance Information Institute notes that a recent Casualty Actuarial Society seminar advises actuaries that when it comes to pricing global reinsurance business, it’s important to remember that...
Generic Drug Firms Shielded from State Suits: Supreme Court
Jun 23 2011 // The Supreme Court ruled Thursday that generic drug companies cannot be sued under state law over allegations that they failed to provide adequate label warnings about potential side effects. By a 5-4 vote, the justices...
